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POUND RIDGE, N.Y. - A group of young children staggered through the door of the Pound Ridge Library Tuesday afternoon and their expressions changed immediately from one of discomfort to one of bliss.

Ahhh, that feels good, one youngster said. He was talking about the air conditioning.

Tuesday was one of the hottest days of the year so far, with the heat index hovering near the high 90s. Folks around Pound Ridge/Lewisboro were looking for relief.

Many of them found it at their local libraries.

We do see an uptick of people coming in on hot days, said Cindy Rubino, director of the Lewisboro Library. We definitely get more in here when its hot. Today, we are getting a lot of families.

Rubino said the families that came in on Tuesday were there for a dual purpose.

They come in to get books  to get their summer reading  and to get out the heat, she said.

In Pound Ridge, Library Director Marilyn Tinter said she notices an increase in attendance at programs for seniors and adults on really hot days. She said that while the town offers the Town House as a cooling center for seniors, the library serves the same purposes just as well.

The library is just as much a cooling center as the Town House, she said. Plus, we are open longer. While the Town House is only open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the library is open to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Saturdays during the summer from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

I told [the town recreation to department] to put that were available as a cooling center in their senior citizen (Neighbor to Neighbor) newsletter to get the word out, Tinter said.